Senate 5: Return of the other Mack
By: Scott Wong and David Catanese
October 15, 2012 04:27 PM EDT

POLITICO’s daily afternoon scorecard of the five biggest developments in the battle for the Senate.

Sherrod Brown and Josh Mandel mix it up in Ohio, Todd Akin hangs tough in Missouri and the return of another Mack in Florida.

1. THE BROWN VS. MANDEL SMACKDOWN — Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican Josh Mandel’s visceral dislike of each other was on full display at the Cleveland City Club today during their first debate. Brown bludgeoned Mandel for hiring “political cronies” to staff his Treasurer’s office, opposing the auto bailout and signing Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. Mandel repeatedly accused Brown of “Washington-speak” and dubbed the incumbent a “bailout senator” who has presided over higher unemployment, rising gas prices and greater foreclosures. It was an intense round of fisticuffs in a race that has tightened to single digits. Both landed blows but there was no knockout. Mandel drew more boos and groans from the crowd, but Brown appeared to miss a few opportunities to capitalize on his opponent’s prior missteps and at times was too reliant on notes.

2. IS AKIN IN THE GAME? — Like Lazarus, Missouri Republican Todd Akin is rising from the dead — at least if you believe one GOP poll and the headline of a Newsweek article out today. The survey, conducted by the Ohio-based Republican firm Wenzel Strategies, showed the embattled GOP challenger leading Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill 49 percent to 45 percent, with 7 percent undecided. And while the survey, commissioned by the Citizens United Political Victory Fund, revealed he leads McCaskill with men by 16 points, he trails her among women by 7 points, 50 percent to 43 percent — no doubt hurt by his “legitimate rape” remarks that have dogged his campaign since August. Other polls have showed McCaskill holding a mid-single-digit lead, so it’s fair to call this an outlier. But Akin isn’t fading away. He will seek to win back female voters this week as he campaigns around the state with members of the Duggar family, stars of TLC’s reality TV show “19 Kids & Counting,” and Janet Huckabee, wife of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

3. RETURN OF THE OTHER MACK — His name helped clinch the GOP nomination. Now, Rep. Connie Mack is going the extra step to highlight his family ties in a new sunny 30-second spot designed to help repair his damaged personal image. In the commercial, Mom Priscilla Mack acknowledges Mack was a “handful” as a child as her son looks on with his father, former Sen. Connie Mack III. Dad never speaks, but the message is implicit: Like father, like son. The problem is that the GOP congressman has been wounded by charges he’s the Charlie Sheen of Florida politics — and that he’s attempting to ride his father’s coattails to higher office. Public Policy Polling pegs Mack’s favorability rating at just 32 percent.

4. POLLING PROBLEMS IN PA. — Polling in the Pennsylvania race is all over the map. To be sure, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey leads Republican Tom Smith in all of them — in some by double digits. But a Morning Call/ Muhlenberg College poll out Monday showed Casey leading Smith, 41 percent to 39 percent, well within the margin of error and a dramatic turn from August when the same poll had the first-term senator up 19 percentage points. Just hours later, the Casey campaign circulated a Public Policy Polling survey showing Casey with an 11-point lead over Smith, 50 percent to 39 percent. That was consistent with recent polls by the Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena, which showed Casey leading by a comfortable margin. A Rasmussen Reports poll had Casey with a 4-point advantage, while a Susquehanna poll showed Casey up by 2. Casey spokesman Larry Smar warned that Rasmussen and Susquehanna are GOP-leaning polls, while Muhlenberg has had a poor track record: A month before Casey’s 2006 race, Muhlenberg had him leading by just 5 points. He ended up beating incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum by more than 17 points.

5. MOURDOCK’S TEST TONIGHT — The featured Senate debate of the evening is in Indianapolis, where Republicans believe Richard Mourdock has finally carved out a nominal lead over Rep. Joe Donnelly. Now, the state treasurer must have a mistake-free debate that avoids bombast and puts the onus on Donnelly to demonstrate his differences with Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama. Donnelly, on the other hand, needs to expose Mourdock as a wolf in sheep’s clothing — an extreme tea partier whom even GOP Sen. Dick Lugar is reluctant to embrace. Mourdock’s debate against Lugar during the primary was seen as a success for the challenger, showing he could stand toe to toe with — and make a case for ousting — a Senate titan without sounding disrespectful. The debate will be on CSPAN at 7 p.m. ET.

Who Won The Day: Elizabeth Warren; Her $12.1 million fundraising quarter — 82 percent of which came in donations of $50 or less — surpassed Scott Brown’s total by a gaping $5 million.

Who Lost The Day: Tommy Thompson, for being forced to spend a day cleaning up his son’s puzzling comments about sending President Obama “back to Kenya.”